Then they will go somewhere else and forget about you and your writing. Too bad! The more our world becomes internet and smart-phone dominated, the truer this becomes. To make sure your satire and humor writing is clear and engaging, you must get feedback on it. To write good humor and satire, feed your eyeballs a diet of good humor and satire. Hone in on the pieces you do love , read them closely, and analyze them. Pick a few favorite pieces, print them out on physical paper, and take a pen to them—just like an old-fashioned psychopath!
Here are some close reading questions to answer when you read:. If you closely read and analyze satire and humor pieces repeatedly, something magical happens: you will start to understand their patterns and inner-workings. This is crucial in learning how to write satire. When you start writing satire and humor, you need to get your reps in.
That means writing a piece, getting feedback, then writing another. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Keep writing. All of the experienced satire and humor writers I know have written hundreds of pieces, and all of them have faced rejection many times. But they repped it out. They kept improving. But remember to have fun! My advice is to write about topics the delight or infuriate or captive you. Before we part, one more word on rejection and persistence.
Every good humor writer I know has had many of their humor and satire pieces rejected by various publications. I have had dozens of pieces rejected by editors. So, keep this all in mind. If you sugarcoat them, the satire is lost. Try to get inside their heads, understand their petty motivations, and recognize the absurdity of their motivations and behavior.
Above all: have fun! If you're having fun, the reader will too. Not Helpful 1 Helpful 5. Read some of works of great satirists like Mark Twain, Terry Pratchett, Lewis Carroll and Oscar Wilde to see the lenses of perspective they used to examine figures of authority and the struggles the main characters faced as individuals trying to fit into a broken societal structure.
Not Helpful 1 Helpful 2. Beef-Witted Barnacle. You can criticize whatever you want with your writing. The piece is made to criticize something that the author disagrees with, so choose something that is important to you, and then write about the opposing side in a satirical manner. Not Helpful 0 Helpful 1. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.
Use your imagination and creativity when you write. Your unique perspective and sense of humor will make your writing more interesting.
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0. Remember that satire can be dangerous if interpreted in a negative way. Consider the Belgian cartoon that depicted the Muslim prophet Mohammed in an offensive way. Some militant Muslims reacted violently. While that reaction is unacceptable, many people believe it could have been avoided if the satirical cartoon had approached the subject in a different way. Helpful 9 Not Helpful 5. Related wikiHows How to.
How to. How to Handle Interactions with Anti-Vaxxers. More References 5. About This Article. Co-authored by:. Christopher Taylor, PhD.
Co-authors: Updated: June 29, Categories: Social Activism. Article Summary X By doing some research and getting creative, you can write your own satire on current events. Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read , times. This helped so much. I'm almost done, and I'm just so proud of myself!
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Luke Bane Oct 6, Anonymous Feb 20, Thanks, wikiHow. Anonymous Oct 5, Thank you very much, as this is my first satire essay for college. Anonymous May 9, Wilson Pondamali Apr 6, Share yours!
More success stories Hide success stories. Does knowing about satire make any difference to the type of stories you write? Exaggeration is the lifeblood of satire—without it, you will struggle to find anything worth satirising. Think about the value systems of your characters. Their habits. Their professions or their jobs. Their mental preoccupations. Their reliance on other people. Their compulsions. Exaggeration can flesh out each of these qualities.
This surgeon could even worry about germs in his microwave meal and is so anxious he checks the pulse of his kids in the middle of the night. You have now exaggerated the same features in a heart surgeon which previously you would have considered positive traits to the point where it verges on satiric.
Satire is a writing style that often educates and entertains its readers. You might write satire if you work for newspapers or media outlets, create your own fiction or non-fiction writing or simply want to add elements of exaggeration and humor into your professional writing. Knowing the most effective satire techniques can help connect you with your readers or gain a new audience who enjoys that style of writing.
In this article, we discuss what satire is and list techniques and tips to use this style of writing effectively. Satire is the use of literary devices such as humor, exaggeration or irony to educationally criticize someone or something. Public figures, politicians, political groups, prominent philosophies and popular culture are some of the most common targets of satire. Satire is a way to provide social commentary, and you can use satire in various literary genres such as comics, novels, short stories, poetry and humorous news articles or essays.
Professional writers in any genre might use satire. If you're a professional writer, consider using satire to comment on relevant topics using techniques such as parody.
Satire provides your audience with information often disguised as entertainment or silly content. Newspaper writers might include a satire section, and comic writers, essayists and novelists are some of the most common professionals to use satire. Satire techniques are strategies professional writers use to incorporate satire into their work.
Here are seven techniques to consider when writing satire:. Exaggeration entails making a situation or person look better or worse than they are by overstating or understating certain characteristics beyond reality. Exaggeration typically considers a person's or situation's real characteristics and makes them seem ridiculous or far-fetched. For example, consider the constantly increasing size of cellphones. When employing satire, you might write about a future version of a phone that requires both hands to carry.
Incongruity is an often absurd method of satire where you present something unexpected into an otherwise normal scene or story. Comic writers commonly use this style where the actions of characters in a scene might seem normal, but the caption displays incongruity.
In writing, you might write a story about a baby as the CEO of a company. They might wear a suit or hold a phone, but still babble when communicating. Because these things are impossible or incongruous, this situation is satirical. Reversal is a type of satire that switches the positions of two things or people.
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